The Game We're In
by Clouditycult
Summary: Takes place post eclare break up. Guess who's playing opposite Clare in the school musical? It will certainly be an interesting 3 months. Will probably be 20ish chapters.
1. Prolouge

**A/N Hello! Alright, so this is my first multi-chapter story. It's an eclare. Fair warning, this will be a long author's note. But the others won't be.**

**For those of you who haven't heard of it, the Pajama Game consists of 3 major storylines. It's about workers in a pajama factory demanding a 7&1/2 cent raise. Babe is the leader of the grievance committee. Her and the new superintendent, Sid Sorokin, fall in love. However, things get messy when he's forced to fire her for destroying a machine while protesting. Things get messier when she sees Sid ans Gladys at a night club together (called Hernando's Hideway). Everything works out though. Gladys and Hines are together. However Hines's constant jealousy begins to drive Gladys away. Prez is the president of the company (not the owner, that's Hasler). He's also a womanizer. He goes after Gladys and fails, so then goes after Mae and succeeds because Mae's a flirt and a ditz. There relationship has its ups and downs and how it ends is open to interpretation. The three storylines are in order of importance.**

**Also, my school did the Pajama Game last year. I was Mae. My Prez and I, also had a bit of a history. Most of this fic is based off of my experience over those three months. However, this story will end a lot happier than my love life did. If anyone wants to know how much of this actually happened, just let me know. But... it really doesn't matter.**

**Anyway, Darcy will be extremely ooc. I normally don't pay much attention to that, but for those of you who do, there's your warning. I needed to change her character to have her play a slightly different role in Clare's life. This story will feature just about all of the current characters on the show. Plus Darcy and Peter. Just pretend the two of them are only one year out of Degrassi. Jenna, Clare, and Alli are best friends.**

**I'll be giving details on necessary information about the musical based on the content of each chapter. If anyone has a preference as to whether I should put the information at the beginning or the end, let me know. If not, I'll probably just put it at the beginning.**

**Cast list:**

**Babe&Sid: Katie&Drew Gladys&Hines: Fiona&Adam Prez&Mae: Eli&Clare Mabel: Marisol**

**Ensemble: Imogen, Jake, Alli, Jenna, KC, Maya, Zig, Tris, Tori, Connor, Dave, other students who simply aren't important**

**I think that's it :) Enjoy. Reviews are appreciated. And I do not own Degrassi. Obviously. I do not own the Pajama Game. Obviously. I do not own Legally Blonde. Obviously.**

"Congratulations Clare!" Alli squeaked out as she hugged me tightly. I grinned from ear to ear, as I continued to look at the cast list. _So Much Better_ from Legally Blonde was playing over and over in my head.

Once again, I looked at my name next to the character Maefrom the Pajama Game. I wasn't the lead, but it was the part I had wanted most. I could now see the next 3 months of my life, and how wonderful it would be, now that I knew I had gotten the part.

Alli had put up with my constant singing and dancing over the past week, in preparation for my audition. I had random anxiety attacks that I wouldn't get in, and, of course, I was whining quite often about how badly I wanted to be Mae. But oh, the week of nerves was worth it.

I looked over the cast list once more. The two leads, Babe and Sid were Katie and Drew. Hines and Gladys were Adam and Fiona. I had expected that. The four of them did fantastic at call backs.

I then realized that I hadn't even looked at who'd I be playing opposite of. I scanned down the list until my eye caught on the name Prez. The name across was… Eli Goldsworthy. I looked again, just to double check.

Oh no. Oh this couldn't be happening. Was it even possible for me to be this unlucky? I looked at Alli in horror, and after a couple seconds she had the realization as well.

I would be kissing my ex boyfriend for the next 3 months.

Oh dear.

* * *

"Wait, wait, wait. So… Eli's Prez?" Jenna asked for the hundredth time, with a smirk on her face.

"Yes, Jenna, keep up! My goodness." Alli snapped back.

I pushed my salad around in its container, not really eating it. Eli and I hadn't spoken all that much since the breakup. Well… not at all really. Other than a bit of awkward eye contact, there'd been nothing.

I sighed at a tomato. I just could not believe my luck.

"Clare!" Alli's voice, from across the lunch table snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Hmm?" I responded.

Jenna leaned over and nudged my side, "So… will there be tongue?" She smirked at me raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, shut up!" I exclaimed at her as I shoved her in the shoulder. The three of us erupted into a small fit of giggles.

"So when do rehearsals start?" Alli asked when we calmed down a bit, leaning slightly across the table.

Jenna cut in, "Alli, you really should know that rehearsals start next week. You're in the ensemble with me."

"Guys, this is going to be so much fun," I smiled at them. I was genuinely excited to be doing this. Especially since I'd get to be Mae.

"Oh, we know you'll enjoy it… Mrs. Goldsworthy," Alli teased.

I groaned and let my head drop onto the table in front of the lunch table.

* * *

**Congratulations Clare :)**

It was from Eli. I peered down at my phone through my eyelashes, as to not get my phone taken away by Dawes.

I sighed and pushed a couple fingers across my eyebrow. _Why did it have to work out like this._ I knew that he was only initiating conversation like this to make our lives less difficult. Being each others' love interests would certainly be easier if it wasn't awkward. But… I knew better. It'd be awkward no matter what. And I was prepared to deal. It'd be weird, and uncomfortable, and embarrassing at points. But it was acting. And we'd be able to do put up with each other for the next 3 months, and then go back to ignoring each other.

However… I knew he wouldn't see it that way, and I didn't want there to be hard feelings, so I swiftly ran my thumbs across my keyboard and typed out a short and sweet:

**Thanks :) You too.**

I peaked down again to check for typos and sent the message. For the rest of class I checked my phone an embarrassingly numerous amount of times.

I missed him, of course. Lack of communication was a huge factor in our break up and, I really did just want to talk things out.

_Stop it Clare_.

That wasn't going to happen. I had already accepted that. It was over. And that was okay. I'd work on getting over him. Our relationship would remain strictly professional.

_He doesn't want you._

I sighed again. I'd be okay.

_I'm a big girl. I can deal with this without closure._

When Darcy pulled up to the school to pick me up, I wasn't sure if I was supposed to bounce over to the car with the joy of getting to be Mae, or dejectedly shuffle over to give her the news of the male portraying Prez. I spent the entire walk over pondering this, so really, it didn't matter.

Not a second after I hopped into the car, I was bombarded with questions.

"What happened? Are you Mae? Who's your Prez? Who got the lead, Katie or Marisol?"

I smiled to myself at her excitement. "Well I'm Mae…"

"Oh, yay!" she sang out immediately while turning to start the car. She turned to face me again, briefly, as she asked, "And Prez… who's your Prez?"

I hesitated. "Um…" I bit down on my lip before turning my head to face her with a look of annoyance, "It's Eli."

"Ha!" she shot out, "Oh my goodness, that's so unfortunate!" She said through a mass of giggles at my expense.

I exhaled a small laugh. Then shook my head at her as she pulled out of the parking lot.

When her laughter calmed down a bit, she looked at me seriously… right in the eye. And she told me, "If he slips you tongue, be sure to bite it."

The smile she'd been holding back broke through her serious expression and what followed was another fit of giggles as I rolled my head back and groaned.

**Sorry it's short. The others should be longer.**


	2. Once A Year Day, rehearsal one

**Okay, chapter two :) They'll be rehearsing the dance for Once A Year Day in this chapter. It takes place act one scene six (90% sure. it's been a while). They're at the company picnic, and the song is about Sid being happy that Babe is finally accepting his advances. Um, for those of you who don't know a _chaser_ is a dance step. It's pronounced saw-shay. And, they have study hall Tuesdays and Thursdays. About 15 minutes are taken out of each of the four hour and a half classes and are combined into one study hall between their first and second classes.**

**I believe that's all the information needed for this chapter. Enjoy :)**

**I don't own Degrassi. Obviously. I don't own The Pajama Game. Obviously.**

"Are you excited, Clare?" Jenna's voice rang through the bathroom stall.

I smiled to myself. "I guess," I answered. Today we'd be learning most of the dance for Once A Year Day. It was the supposed to be the biggest dance number in the show. The bathroom was packed with at least 25 girls, changing into sweats for rehearsal.

Honestly, I was a little bit nervous. Of course, I was worried about picking up on the choreography okay, but today would also be the first day I'd see Eli for long amounts of time, since the break up.

I took a deep breath, and stepped out of the stall. "Jenna, Alli, hurry up!" I called over, growing a bit anxious.

"Working on it," huffed out Alli.

I made small talk with Katie, until Marisol dragged her out of the bathroom, talking rather loudly about still needing to get a script. It was kind of irritating, actually. Katie and I weren't close, but she was good friends with Darcy last year.

Now that people were clearing out of the bathroom, and into rehearsal, there was a sink open. I leaned over and inspected my reflection. I'd spent a little extra time on my make-up this morning. Most of it ended up smudging underneath my lash line by now. I knew that it was silly of me to think that Eli would notice any of this, or even care, really. But, as a girl it was my job to be as irrational as possible.

I wondered if Eli would talk to me at all. He was definitely trying to make peace for the show. I just didn't know how far he would take it. I'd at least get a hello, right? Would I get a hug? He used to always hug me when we were together. But the one thing that I did know was that he wouldn't mean anything that he ended up doing. Everything was simply to make things less awkward.

I sighed while swiping my pointer fingers under my eyes. It didn't help much. I still had raccoon eyes, and Eli still didn't want me.

Before I could get too anxious, Alli and Jenna each stepped out of their stalls. "Hey, how bad is my liner running?" I asked, as I turned around to face them.

"Not at all?" Jenna said with a teasing giggle.

I rolled my eyes at her, then pushed through the bathroom door to head into rehearsal, with the two of them a couple steps behind.

About 30 of the 40 people were in there when we arrived. Plus Ms. Oh and Ms. Dawes. I was pretty sure Oh would be choreographing and take care of vocals. Ms. Dawes would definitely be directing.

I saw Eli across the room. _Oh gosh_. I quickly ducked my head down and walked swiftly to the other side of the room. As I pulled off my shoes, I peeked up to steal a quick glance at Eli. He was talking to Fiona. He looked the same. Same hair. Same eyes. Same smirk. He began to shift his torso ever so slightly and like a reflex my head shot back down to my shoes. I worked on my breathing. I glanced up again. He wasn't looking over.

I put my shoes next to Jenna's and sat down on the floor to stretch with her. My back was to Eli and Fiona across the room. Alli joined us shortly after.

Eli was walking over. I could sense it. Due to the fact that I was freakishly aware of his presence, I could feel him coming towards us, despite my back being to him.

"Hey Clare," he drew out. He was leaning back to stretch out his spine, so the words were a bit slurred. _Gosh, it's like he tries to act as aloof as possible._

As he greeted me, I folded my legs in, and spun around to face him. "Hi Eli," I said quietly, without looking at him. The ground in front of me was suddenly very interesting.

There was a second of silence, so I glanced up briefly. He opened his arms a bit for a hug. _Kill me now._ I didn't even bother hiding how displeased I was as I stood up and stepped briefly into his arms.

It wasn't a long hug. I had expected that much. Back when we were dating… our hugs were a little excessive. He was always so warm; his smell: horribly comforting. I was unable to let these familiarities register very much during the incredibly short hug.

After he pulled away, I just kind of stood there, awkwardly, biting down on my lip. I really didn't feel like forcing conversation. I kind of felt like punching him, actually.

I suppose he picked up on my inner hostility because he gave a tiny half smirk then turned around and walked away.

I tried to figure out the reasoning behind my sudden hatred towards him. I suppose knowing just how insincere he was, was getting to me. I wasn't going to play along like everything was okay. Because it wasn't. He needed to realize that. I certainly wasn't going to pretend that it was to make his life easier. I could put up with the awkwardness. He needed to grow up and do the same.

I turned back to Alli and Jenna and sunk down to the ground. I let out a sigh. "Idiot," I muttered, just loud enough for them to hear.

They looked at me and giggled. Soon enough, I was able to push my anger away enough to join in, and laugh along.

"Clare, have you gotten your script yet?" Ms. Dawes' voice sounded from across the room, pulling me out of conversation with my friends.

"Um, no, not yet," I responded. She held up a small book that read The Pajama Game on the cover. I stood up and walked over, extremely self-conscious, since I felt Eli glance over. I took the book after uttering a small, "Thank you," and headed back to my spot, just staring at my feet.

"Alright everyone, gather around, I have a few things to talk to you about before we get started," Ms. Dawes called out to everyone. Alli, Jenna, and I stood up and walked over to the half circle of people surrounding the two teachers. Eli was on the side opposite us.

"Okay, well if you haven't already received a rehearsal schedule, they're at the door. We're going to try and stick to it as much as possible. But weekly rehearsals will be on the chorus door, and daily ones will be posted on the theatre door, along with a list of people called for the day, just in case changes are made. Our stage manager will send out texts and post on facebook, for rehearsal schedules during study hall on Tuesdays and Fridays. So if you don't already have her number, get it before you leave today."

The three of us were sitting towards the back of the group, so we were able to flip through the script while listening to the speech. It was while Ms. Oh was going on about her expectations for today's dancing, that we ended up seeing Mae and Prez's scene after the picnic. _Oh dear_. Jenna pointed to Mae's _You're a snappy dresser, too, _ line, and silently laughed at me. I sighed, rolled my eyes at her, and closed the script. That was enough for now. I'd probably read the show a couple of times before bed tonight, to familiarize myself.

"Alright, well just do your best for today, and make sure you practice once you get home," Ms. Oh finished up.

We all got up and spread out a bit. Ms. Oh then started calling out people in group one. Jenna was in group one, but Alli and I weren't. Neither was Eli. I was glad that Alli was with me, so I wouldn't have to be by myself for the moment.

Group two was all the girls who weren't in group one. All the males were in group three. "Okay, so Eli, I need you to stand right near Clare, since she'll be your love interest at this point in the play." _Someone kill me right now. _I glued my eyes to the ground as Eli moved up next to me. I refused to look at him, even though he was giving off such friendly vibes towards me. _They're not real, _I told myself. _You're not going to play along with him_.

Even worse, I couldn't talk to Alli because she was on the opposite end of the group two circle. And Jenna was a few rows behind in group one, leaving me to stand awkwardly, not knowing where to look; it felt like Eli was everywhere.

I was up front next to Fiona. It was quite nerve-wrecking, actually. Fiona was one of the best dancers in the show.

After Ms. Oh explained how we would get to these positions in the dance, she went on to the choreography itself.

"Now, not all of you will start this dance from the beginning, but all of you will learn it right now, since you'll all do it at the end," Ms. Oh began.

She showed us the first couple of steps; it was simple enough. It was actually the dance we learned at call backs. There were some kicks that I was having issues with, but so was everyone else, so I didn't sweat it too much.

I was very careful not to look at Eli as I did the dance.

She sent us out to go get water, about an hour into it, and when we filed back in, she said we would then break into a polka. My heart stopped as she assigned dance partners. _Oh no._ I'd surely be Eli's. Fantastic. And, of course, I was one of the last people to be assigned a partner, so my anxiety continually grew. It was me, Imogen, Eli, and Tris who were left.

"Now Eli… you'll be partnered with Imogen."

Oh. That was good. I was relieved. Or… I expected to feel relieved. But that wasn't really what I was feeling. I just… couldn't put my finger on what my reaction was.

"And Clare, you'll be partnered with Tris." I smiled, and nodded. I'd talked to Tris a couple of times. He was nice enough.

"Wait, wouldn't Clare be paired with Eli?" asked Becky. I froze, making my expression as blank as I could. Becky was new. She didn't know about Eli and I. Really, she was just curious.

"What, dear?" asked Ms. Oh.

"Well, they're love interests, and they're closer together. So it'll be easier for Clare to run over to Eli, rather than cross past him, and go around Imogen, in order to get to Tris."

Ms. Oh looked over at Ms. Dawes, with a knowing smile. "Well... in the long run, for this dance, it makes more sense." My cheeks were on fire.

With that, the conversation was over, and all the girls walked over to their partners. I placed my left hand on Tris's shoulder, and my right hand in his left, just as instructed.

"Now, you're going to chaser, then flip, chaser, then flip, chaser then flip, for 16 counts around in a circle. You should end up in the position you were in before," Ms. Oh instructed.

We all started to polka. Rather… we all attempted to do something that might be able to fall into the category of a polka. It was extremely messy. Really, it was a simple step, however none of us could get a 180 degree flip in every time. We spent the last forty minutes of rehearsal trying to make it look semi decent.

I couldn't help but glance over at Eli as I went around. He was laughing with Imogen. I knew that it was ridiculous for me to get upset at this, but... I just felt like he was winning. The fact that he was just so happy while I was over here, pining over him like an idiot.

"Alright guys, that's enough for today," Ms. Oh sighed, clearly dissatisfied with how rehearsal ended up. I couldn't blame her. We did _okay _with the beginning, but only when she did it with us. It was very apparent that we wouldn't remember much at next rehearsal. "We'll probably go over the dance during study hall tomorrow, so keep an ear out for word on that."

Ms. Dawes finished up with reminding us to go over the dances at home, and look through our scripts, for those of us who had them. As she went on, all I could think about was how badly I wanted to move from the dance formation. I was way too close to Eli for my liking. Naturally, my eyes were glued to the floor, because of this.

I walked with Jenna and Alli over to our shoes. My eyes were still on the floor, terrified of making eye contact with Eli. I slowly pulled on my shoes. I did a quick sweep of the room, and saw Eli head towards the door with Drew. I immediately shot up, upon seeing them walk out, and I gave Alli and Jenna a quick goodbye before speeding out the door a little bit behind them.

As soon as I stepped out the door, I paused. I realized just how idiotic I was for following them out like that. I guess I just did it without thinking. I, literally, could not figure out what had compelled me to believe it was a good idea.

I tried to control my breathing as I walked slowly towards the side door, trying not to seem like a stalker. Eli turned the corner to head out the parking lot. When he saw me, he stopped talking to Drew for a second. "Bye Clare," he called over.

"Bye," I said in return. My voice was quiet, and I couldn't even look at him for the entire word. I stood there and let out a sigh before turning down the adjacent hall to go get picked up.

**Sorry I don't use any comma's in my author's notes. I probably should go back and fix that, but I think I'll just let you decipher that, for this chapter. Also, thank s for the alerts and reviews for this story guys! Makes me extremely happy! :)**


	3. Choral rehearsals

**Hey guys! I have returned. Sorry this took longer than I wanted it to. I had to move furniture all week so that took up the majority of my time. Next chapter should come out fairly quickly.**

**Um… Not at all in Love is mentioned in this chapter. It's the song shortly after Babe and Sid meet, and it's the girls teasing Babe, as Babe denies that she's in love with Sid. Seven and a Half Cents is also mentioned. That's the song after the protest, when Babe and Prez figure out how great it would be to get the raise.**

**Thanks for the alerts and reviews guys! They make me incredibly happy :)**

**I don't own Degrassi. Obviously. I don't own the Pajama Game. Obviously.**

"Does this make any sense to you?" I twisted around to ask Jenna.

"Ha!" she shot out. "That's funny… Since when does anyone in this class understand anything, ever?" she said with a snort.

I laughed and turned back around in my seat looking down at my math equations and formulas. It was a half hour before the end of the day, and class was _dragging. _Like always, I was anxious to get to rehearsal.

Today would be Once a Year Day, Racing with the Clock, and Seven and a Half Cents choral rehearsals. After finishing up learning the choreography for Once a Year Day and Not at All in Love last week, we'd been focusing on singing this week.

Our previous Once a Year Day rehearsals had been rather similar to the first one. We continued to learn the dance, and were just about done with becoming familiar with the steps. We still had _a lot _to clean up, particularly the polka. But overall, rehearsals were going okay.

Eli settled on simply ignoring my existence, likely due to my refusal to cooperate when he tried to start a conversation with me. I suppose I preferred it that way. It was better for us, anyway.

Since Not At All in Love was just the girls, I was able to go to those rehearsals without the worry of seeing him. It was nice not to stress so much, but I almost missed being in the same room as him.

The dance itself, for the song, was incredibly fun. It was bouncy, cute, and ridiculously girly. If we hadn't of only learned two dances at that point, I would have declared it my favorite.

"You have no idea how glad I am that today's my last day of rehearsal this week." Jenna's voice came from behind.

"I'm jealous," I sighed. "I still have Friday's rehearsal."

"Well that's because you're a lead," Jenna teased, knowing that I always got irritated when she said that.

"Goodness, Jenna, I'm not a lead, I'm just a principle," I shot back, rolling my eyes, as she purposely pushed my buttons. "Well, anyway, I'm certainly not looking forward to tomorrow's rehearsal."

"Oh yeah, isn't it the Her Is's tomorrow?" she asked with a grin. Her Is was the song he would sing to both me and Fiona. Fiona would reject him, but I would fall for him in the song.

I let out a huge sigh and let my head fall on her desk. "Ugh, how am I supposed to sing with him, if I can't even look at him?"

"Well you almost… kind of… sort of made a bit of eye contact with him yesterday," she chuckled.

I laughed with her. "Well really it just cracks me up the amount of awkward eye contact you and Alli have been making with him. You still can't tell if it's him looking over at us, or you guys looking over at him?"

"I mean…" she began, "I feel like it's kind of us meeting in the middle. Like, scanning the room at the same time, and locking eyes as a result. At least some of the time."

"Some of the time…?" I immediately replied, pushing up onto my elbows on her desk.

"Other times I'm _pretty sure _it's him looking over. I mean, I very rarely look over in his direction. Pretty sure Alli doesn't much either."

"Okay," I drew out, taking that in. I tapped my pencil on my teeth.

He was probably just curious about me in general. Perhaps trying to get an idea of how I felt about everything. By figuring out if I was looking at him, he'd be able to determine how much I care, and therefore, how difficult this was for me. And then he'd be able to figure out how careful he'd have to be with me, in order to make my life easier. _Idiot. I can take care of myself._

"Clare, are you doing any of this?" Jenna asked, gesturing to the math assignment.

"No," I responded bluntly. We stared at each other for a second and then broke into giggles.

* * *

"Alli!" I hissed over to her after Jenna and I came down into the fine arts commons.

"Hey guys!" she said, walking over, like she'd been doing each day before rehearsal.

Jenna began to tell her a story about what happened in her theatre class earlier that day. I'd already heard it, so I mainly tuned out as I scanned the area. Eli turned in from the hallway and into the commons with Drew. He began to glance around the area, so I swiftly turned my attention back to Jenna and Alli.

As she finished up, I suggested we went ahead and slipped into the chorus room; I wanted to be as far away from Eli as I was able to be.

Walking in, we sat in the corner that we normally did, right next to the spot where we dropped all our book bags.

We had a brief conversation before everyone else filed in. Jenna went to go talk to Katie for a bit, so I talked to Alli until Ms. Oh took her spot behind the piano.

We grabbed our scripts, and made our way to the other side of the room sitting in our usual seats. Boys were on one side, and the girls took up the middle and the other side. 'Girls one' were in the middle, and 'girls two' were on the side. We were 'girls two', and were almost directly across from Eli's spot next to Drew.

"Okay, let's just start with vocal warm ups," Ms. Oh began.

As we warmed up, I carefully kept my eyes on the piano. Not wanting to risk any eye contact.

We all sat down and took out our scripts. "Alright, let's start with Racing," Ms. Oh began.

_Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up, hurry up__  
__Can't waste time, can't waste time, can't waste time, can't waste time__  
__When you're racing with the clock__  
__When you're racing with the clock__  
__And the second hand doesn't understand__  
__That your back may break and your fingers ache__  
__And your constitution isn't made of rock__It's a losing race when you're racing with the__  
__Racing with the, racing with the clock_

Ms. Oh began to work with girls one, so Alli, Jenna, and I just kind of goofed off for a few minutes.

"Clare," Jenna gestured to me. I leaned in, across Alli, to reach her.

"Yeah?" I whispered back.

"Oh my gosh, so, I just made eye contact with Eli about six times in the past two minutes. It's getting increasingly awkward."

"Do you know if it's him looking over at us, or you looking over there?" I asked.

Jenna shrugged in response, so Alli quickly scanned the room, while Jenna and I proceeded to try and act natural, so we wouldn't look as obvious in case Eli looked over.

"He's definitely looking over here. At least right now," Alli reported back.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. _So he'll look over at me, but won't talk to me._ I knew I was being ridiculous, since I was the one who refused to cooperate when he did try and talk to me. But, still, I wasn't able to get over my irrational anger towards him.

Once finished up with the girls she was working with, we ran through Racing with the Clock one more time. We then moved to Once a Year Day, which didn't take long.

Ms. Oh decided to have the girls do Not at all in Love, briefly, before finishing up with Seven and a half Cents. The run through of that song was fairly quick, since most of it was Katie, and she was a phenomenal singer.

I always dreaded Seven and a Half Cents. Eli had a _really, really, _good voice. He'd gotten Prez for a reason. Listening to him be fantastic just made it feel all the more like he was coming out on top. I had to fight the blush rising on my cheeks when I heard his voice.

Since he was busy singing, I risked glancing over in his direction. My eyes went to the piano… then the wall. They continued moving to the left until they landed on him. He was looking at Ms. Oh while he sang. His eyes glanced down at his script, and then over to my side of the room. I quickly shot my face down to stare at my music. Slowly, I shifted my eyes up a bit, and he was still looking at me.

My heart raced, and my cheeks turned bright red as our eyes met for the first time in weeks. Gosh, I _missed _him. Looking away quickly, I sighed into my script as my head slowly stopped buzzing from that. I had no idea how I'd get through tomorrow's rehearsal.

* * *

I was finishing up dinner with Darcy and Mom when my exhaustion from the day hit me. It had been long. Even after rehearsal, I could only finish some of my homework. I'd finished up everything due tomorrow, but I had _really _wanted to get a head start on my biology and math due Monday.

I gathered up my unfinished school work, and my other things from downstairs, and carried them up to my room.

As soon as I stepped in through my door, I let everything fall to the floor. It really had been a stressful day. Walking over to my bed, I dropped down onto my bed and stayed there for a few minutes. I needed sleep. I didn't even want to bother getting dressed for bed, or brushing my teeth. I definitely didn't want to finish my homework.

With a sigh, I rolled onto my back, and slid my feet off my bed, while I continued to lie down. I slid down, with my back still relaxed on the bed, until I hit the floor. I grabbed my phone, which had been recharging in my room all evening, and pulled into a sitting position as it rebooted.

**One missed call from Eli.**

My eyebrows knitted together. _Why? _I whined in my head. I couldn't deal with this right now. Already, my heart was beating like mad, against my will, using up the tiny amount of energy I had left. Tonight was not the night to spend my efforts on him.

Realizing that I'd have to respond, I had a few moments of panic as I worried about the proper thing to do. _I could call…_ Gah. I really didn't want to. I decided to simply text him. If that made me a coward, so be it.

**Did you need something?**

I kind of wanted it to sound a bit rude. I was too tired to deal with him. After the way the week went, I wanted him to continue to think that I didn't care.

After staring at my phone for a few seconds, I tossed it onto my bed and pushed myself up to go change. I pulled off my jeans and top, and opened up a couple drawers. I tried to pick out my pajamas slowly, to soak up more time, waiting for him to respond. I was really getting anxious. Slipping on a comfy top and shorts, I walked over to curl up in a ball on my bed.

I took a deep breath before grabbing my phone.

He hadn't responded.

Irritated, and nervous, I rolled over and walked to the bathroom to brush my teeth and tie back my hair.

When I got back to my room, he had texted me back.

**Oh, sorry. It was a pocket dial.**

Now, _that, _made me angry. Here I was using energy I didn't have, and throwing myself into a panic, over an accident. He probably didn't even realize it until I texted him. He hadn't even thought of me this evening.

I seriously considered just not responding, but I was worried that he would think I was rude. As much as I wanted him to believe I didn't care, I still did want him to think highly of me.

**Oh, mmkay, that's fine.**

Perfect. Short and sweet. It made me sound fairly indifferent, yet polite.

I crawled into bed with the remainder of my biology and math homework, and settled in to start working.

My phone buzzed next to me, causing me to jump a bit. My head hung down, as I closed my eyes and sighed. Holding still, I reached over and grabbed my phone to unlock it.

**So how are you?**

At this point I was really just debating as to whether or not to be an awful person. My exhaustion was telling me to respond with a curt, short answer, to let him know I wasn't up for this. However, I knew that he would just back off if I did that. And deep down, I knew that I was enjoying this game we had going. Even though I didn't want to play right then, I certainly wasn't ready for this to be over. I wasn't ready to let him go.

He was too nice to keep pushing me if I were to act rudely towards him. He wouldn't bite, and we'd only continue to distance ourselves if I were to do that. He didn't care as much as I did. Though in the moment I wanted him to back off, in actuality, I was a little excited by the small interaction we were having.

**I'm good, you?**

I sighed. That'd work. It was enough to keep things going, without letting him think that I was being anything more than polite.

As I tried to make sense of the chapter in my biology text book, I realized that I was too jittery to sort through it all.

I set my work aside and leaned my head against the wall. It really was completely unfair of him to do this to me.

**I'm good :) Kind of upset because I didn't have time to watch Dawson's Creek.**

_I. Don't. Care. _I really was not in the mood for small talk. I just wanted him to go away.

**Haha, well personally, I think the show isn't nearly as good since Charlie Sheen left.**

**Meh, I suppose. Haha, it's still one of my favorites though.**

I seriously considered not responding after that. The conversation was dimming down, and it would make sense for me to not respond. It would also demonstrate that I was winning; I cared less, so I had the power.

But… I was weak, so instead, I responded with:

**So what've you been up to?**

He didn't reply back after that.


	4. Her Is choral & blocking

**Gosh, I'm awful. I had really wanted to chug out these chapters faster. Well, either way, I finally found the motivation to write out this chapter.**

**Um... so I may post what each scene in the show consists of, on my profile- I'm not sure yet.**

**Okay, so who read my oneshot: First Phone Call? I'm actually pretty sure that I'm psychic, considering the way part two of the premiere went down. I was fangirling like an idiot :)**

**Anyway... this chapter was a lot of fun to write, so I hope you enjoy it! Next chapter will involve the one person in Degrassi who I didn't put in the show. See if you can figure out who :)**

**A bit more to add to the cast list: Imogen is Brenda, and Maya is Poopsie. Both characters are simply factory girls with more lines than the other factory girls. And Connor is Pop (Babe's father).**

**Thanks for the reviews for last chapter! They made me happy. I don't own Degrassi. Obviously. I don't own The Pajama Game. Obviously.**

I hummed Once A Year Day idly to myself as I sat on the second step in the chorus room.

I was a few feet away from the others in the room. My knees were pulled up to my chest, with my arms holding them in place.

None of my attempts to calm down my nerves were working. My heart was racing, and, had I not been holding myself so tightly, I likely would have been shaking.

When I'd initially woken up this morning, I had felt rather optimistic about today's rehearsal. I was beginning to let myself think that there was a possibility that Eli still cared about me. Perhaps he did miss me a bit, and had continued the conversation last night in order to talk to me. Even though he stopped responding, he did start the conversation. It was finally starting to dawn on me that I was being a little ridiculous and stubborn in my refusal to cooperate. I had woken up this morning ready to start breaking down the wall I'd put up.

I went through my first few classes excited that I might make it through rehearsal okay. And then... it hit me. Today was the Her Is choral rehearsal. The pocket dial the previous night had distracted me, so it didn't really click until that moment: Eli would need to be on good terms with me in order to properly execute the song. He didn't text me last night because he missed me... he texted me to get me to behave.

After about a class and a half of sulking, I eventually realized that despite my anger towards him, I really did need to cooperate today. It was only fair. We had to work as a team to make our song good. Even though I felt as though he would "win" as a result of my decision to do what he wanted, I would fight through the awkwardness today, right alongside with him.

As I sat by myself in the chorus room, I sighed quietly, not wanting to be at rehearsal. I didn't even have Alli or Jenna to talk to.

Ms. Oh was shuffling around some papers on the piano preparing for rehearsal, which really should have started a couple minutes ago.

I let my head fall on my knees and turned to look at the small group in conversation to my right. Only principles were called today. Katie, Marisol, Adam, Fiona, Drew, and Eli were sitting to my right, on the side of the room. Eli was the only one in a chair, and he leaned over to talk to everyone else sitting on the floor.

Part of me knew that I could have gone over to join them... but it was kind of too late. Eli and Adam were the first people to arrive in the chorus room. When I came in, I had naturally sat down as far away from the two of them as possible. Fiona came in next, and sat down next to Adam. Then Marisol with Katie, and finally Drew, all in the same area as Eli. I was feeling too awkward to go over and join them. Especially after so much time had passed. So I just stayed put. I wasn't up to making conversation today, anyway.

"May I have Katie and Sid please?" Ms. Oh said, finally beginning rehearsal. The directors had a tendency to mix character's names and actor's names when referring to people. My head would now naturally snap up anytime I heard "Mae."

As Katie and Drew made their way to the piano, I expected relief in the fact that I wouldn't have to sing at that moment. However, instead, my heart continued to thud harshly in my chest. The added time simply resulted in my anxiety being able to grow.

I'd spent most of my last class mentally preparing for this. I had wondered since the beginning of the show, what this rehearsal would be like. This afternoon I was reminding myself of the things that'd I'd have to do to cooperate. I'd fight through the blockage I had put between us, and try to push away any anger in my head.

I'd looked over the song dozens of times the night before. I only had eight notes to sing total, but I really wanted to be sure that I could sing them correctly and at the right points.

Singing really wasn't my strong point. I was very lucky that this musical had a part that I was fit for character wise, that also didn't include much singing. My vocal skills had certainly not gotten me this part. Even worse, I knew that I'd be extra self conscious singing in front of Eli. I really did not want to embarrass myself in front of him.

Katie and Drew finished up Small Talk and There Once Was A Man, and I smiled to myself thinking about how Jenna would of been gushing about how cute of a couple the two of them would make.

I wanted to pull out my phone and text her to complain a bit. However, I didn't know if I was allowed to use my phone in rehearsal. Even a small rehearsal like this one.

Right as I was debating whether or not to risk it, a crumpled candy wrapper landed right next to me. I looked down at it confused, then slowly looked up at the small group a few feet away from me, trying to find the source.

I immediately knew who it was; Eli had a mischievous expression clear on his face. I arched an eyebrow as he held back a smirk. I pinched the wrapper between my index and middle fingers and cocked my head to the side, looking at him.

"I missed the trash can," he stated, intentionally making it obvious that this wasn't true. I looked at him doubtfully.

He probably felt bad that I was so far away from everyone else, and was trying to include me. I surprised myself by finding this sweet.

"Would you, uh, mind throwing that away for me?" he asked, smirking.

Adam and Marisol were called up for Jealous, so I let them pass between us before responding.

"How about... No," I said in the perkiest, most sarcastic voice I could manage. I let the wrapper drop into my hand an flicked it across my palm, back in his direction. I let a smile spread across my face and slipped out a small chuckle, to let him know I was kidding.

I turned back to face the front of the room, and curled back up into a ball, fighting a smile.

Being nice was easier that I thought.

Once Adam and Marisol finished up, Fiona went up to do Hernando's. When she was done with that, Ms. Oh called up Eli to do the first Her Is with her.

_Shoot_. I knew I'd be next. My palms were sweating like mad. I took deep breaths, trying to calm down. I payed close attention to the notes Fiona was hitting, since I'd be singing the exact same thing.

They took a while to get through the song. Eli was notorious for severely messing up lyrics and lines. In the previous year's musical, the first time he got his song completely right was opening night. Ms. Dawes and Ms. Oh were tearing out their hair the entire time.

"Okay...now I need Mae to come over for the reprise," Ms. Oh said after sending Fiona back to her seat.

"Okay," I responded, barely audible, trying not to let in any nerves. I knew that if I was too jittery, I'd be stuck in my own head, and unable to make the song not suck.

I walked over to the piano with my script in my hand.

"So let's take it back to the lines right before the scene. Prez... You say 'so have you' in response to Mae. Just start it from there," Ms. Oh prompted us.

"So have you," Eli said, with a goofy smile on his face and mockery in his voice. I was relieved that we wouldn't have to seriously act out our lines leading up to the song. I wasn't quite ready for that.

With a bit of laughter in my voice, I responded, "You're a snappy dresser too... I go for that." I figuredthat matching his playfulness would make this a bit easier.

"I go for you," he said in an obnoxiously deep voice, dramatizing the cheesiness of the line.

I glanced down at my script chuckling at him.

"Hahahaha," I rolled out, in the highest, most irritatingly girly pitch I could manage, putting a small squeak at the end.

I expected him to respond with an equally obnoxious laugh, but instead he froze for a second, looking at me. Then, breaking character, he burst into a fit of laughter.

I shook my head at him, smiling. Hearing him laugh like that made butterflies fill up my stomach.

In the back of my mind I was thinking about how much sorting through my thoughts that evening would suck. But, all I could focus on was how ecstatic I was that I had put a giant smile on Eli's face.

Eli composed himself, and I pushed away my current thoughts. He finally turned back to me, slipped out a couple more chuckles, and then did an extremely deep, and rather creepy, "Hahaha."

A smile spread across my face in response.

When he looked back at me, I glanced over to Ms. Oh, unable to hold his gaze. I was surprised to find that Ms. Oh wasn't getting irritated with our messing around, and was relieved to find an amused expression on her face.

She began playing the song on the piano, and as the music sped up, Eli began, "Her is a kinda doll what drives a Bella bats... Isn't her?"

I gathered up the air for my notes, but the music had stopped.

"'Bella bats'?" Ms. Oh shot at him. "Seriously Eli? We just went over this with the first Her Is. 'Fella bats.' Try again."

He chuckled at himself, and restarted the song.

"Her is a kinda doll what drives a be-fella bats... Isn't her?"

Ms. Oh rolled her eyes as he stumbled over the words, continuing to play the notes that led into my lyrics.

"Her is," I sang out quietly, on cue. I looked to Ms. Oh for approval, and she nodded slightly while she played the piano.

"Her has... A kinda shape which really is a cats... isn't her?" he stumbled out.

Ms. Oh shot him a look as he messed up these lyrics even worse than the first ones, but continued on nonetheless.

"Her has," I sang out, feeling a bit more confident.

I glanced up at Eli amused; He chuckled at his attempt to sing his next set of lyrics. It mainly came out as mush, with the occasional "her," or "have."

I giggled at him and looked into my script.

He continued, "Her is... the lala dresser, something dressed to kill... Hasn't her,"

"Her is," I responded, fighting laughter.

"Her is... The only doll that lala get the thrill... Isn't her?"

A smile was on my face as I sang, "Her is!"

He finished up: "Her is... Running away, but for sure can bet... Her-him is... Gonna get her yet... I'm gonna get her yet." As soon as the piano stopped playing, he put his elbow on top of it, dropped his head in his hand, and laughed hysterically at himself.

I leaned against the piano, crossed my arms, and shook my head at him, laughing along.

Ms. Oh sighed from behind the piano, "Alright Eli, for the sake of my sanity, I'm not going to take the time to go over the same song with you again, just for you to continue to make the same mistakes. I'll just trust you to go home and work on it, okay?" Eli nodded in response, his head still in his hand.

"However," she continued, "Let's go through the whole song one more time to make sure you have all the notes. Even if you're shooting out random sounds and syllables, try and keep track of the notes."

"And Mae, remember to be seductive. You're character's a bit of a floozy. Make sure you're bringing that into your singing and overall performance."

I nodded at her, trying to change my mind set to make my voice come through the way she wanted.

"Okay," Ms. Oh started, "So: 'I go for you,'"

I did my obnoxious giggle at him, and he creepily laughed back. We then launched back into the song. There wasn't much improvement on Eli's end. Luckily, since most of the attention was on him, I was able to focus on working my character into my notes, without too much stress.

Once Ms. Oh dismissed us from rehearsal, Eli was one of the first ones out the door.

He said a polite goodbye to everyone, before walking out. I was a bit disappointed not to receive a more personal farewell.

I could feel the high I'd gotten during rehearsal sizzle down as reality set back in. While it had made life a whole lot easier,_ during _rehearsal to pretend that Eli and I were decent friends again, it made _after_ rehearsal dreadful. I was facing the fact that all of the kindness I had just received was fake._ It wasn't real. It wasn't real. It wasn't real._

I _had_ to keep reminding myself why he was bothering being nice to me. My expectations were already becoming unrealistic for our relationship, just with that one rehearsal. The last thing I needed was dissapointment.

* * *

I said bye to Alli and Jenna, and they wished me luck as I made my way down the side hall.

Sauntering into the theatre room, Ms. Dawes told me that rehearsal would be in there for the day, since there was a faculty meeting in the auditorium.

Today would be the first blocking rehearsal. Nothing major, just three scenes in act one. Only about nine of us were called.

I was only in one of the three scenes, so I'd be able to catch up on homework a bit while everything else was worked on.

I'd looked over the scene the night before. It was scene nine- two scenes after Her Is. I was in the beginning of it, and had three lines. I'm super hung up on Prez at that point.

In act one, I was in seven of the ten scenes. We'd be doing two of the three that I wasn't in today.

Walking in, I saw that only a few people were there. Eli wasn't one of them. Luckily, Adam was. I plopped down on the couch next to him and greeted him.

It had kind of become an unspoken rule that when either Eli or I were with Adam, the other would steer clear. I suppose it was sort of a first come first serve type of thing.

We began to discuss an English project as people filed in. I was careful not to look at the door, in order to prevent awkward eye contact once Eli arrived.

I stiffened as I caught a bit of his scent when he breezed past Adam and I. We were the only two on the blue couch, closest to the door. Everyone else had squeezed onto the red and white striped couch next to us. Eli grabbed a chair, and slid it in front of the other couch, jumping into their conversation.

"Um... let's begin with scene four," Ms. Dawes began, quieting everyone.

When Adam got up, I pulled out my math textbook and tried to work on a few problems.

Ms. Oh placed Marisol, Drew, Fiona, Adam and Maya in their positions around the two large desks in the middle of the room. Katie was standing to the side of the room, waiting to come in, so it was just Eli, Connor, Imogen, and I left on the couches.

I felt Eli's eyes glance over to me briefly, and I shoved my nose into my textbook in response.

A couple dance rehearsals had passed since the Her Is choral. I had decided to go back to putting up a blockade between us. I felt incredibly worn out from trying so hard that day, and wanted to save my energy for when we would work on the song next.

I glanced up from my homework a few times, watching Ms. Dawes block the scene, and give occasional notes on their lines. After deciding she was satisfied, she moved on to scene eight.

This one was only Katie, Drew, and Connor. This was the scene after Her Is. Sid was trying to seduce Babe, and Connor, Babes father, continually cock blocks.

Once they finished up blocking, Fiona, Adam, and Connor were allowed to leave, since they weren't in scene nine.

Dawes sat Marisol in a seat behind Mabel's desk, and had Imogen, Maya, Eli and I sort ourselves around the desk.

Imogen and Maya both went on the left side, and Eli walked over to the right. I knew it would make sense to have two on each side, so I reluctantly made my way next to Eli, moving with the pace of a turtle.

Ms. Dawes looked up over her glasses, and scanned our set up. "Yes," she said once her eyes landed on Eli and I. "You two should be standing near each other. Remember, you two just hooked up at the picnic," she continued. She didn't bother using more "professional" terms in rehearsals.

"Okay, begin!" she said, leaning back in her chair.

Eli started with his line about the grievance committee's meeting with our boss about the raise.

"Does this mean we've won?" Maya responded, leaning across the desk.

I followed by expolding out, "We've won! We've won! We've won!" I was thankful for my script. I still hadn't figured out what felt natural for me to do with my body, so I was able to look down at my lines while I spoke.

Before Eli could continue the scene, Ms. Dawes cut in. "Okay, Clare, I want you to throw your arms up, around Prez for that line, alright?"

_Oh my goodness_. "Alright," I responded with a nod.

"Lots of jumping while you do it," she tacked on, turning her attention back down to her script.

Eli started the scene over, and after Maya's line, I turned to Eli, leaped up, and throwing my arms around his neck, squealed out, "We've won! We've won! We've won!" I was trying desperately to ignore his scent and the warmth of his body.

As I detangled my arms from his body, Eli burst out laughing. My eyes widened in surprise. I suppose he hadn't expected me to be so bold with my acting, after how timid I'd been over the past few weeks.

It took me a couple seconds to register that Imogen, Maya, and Marisol had been chuckling along with him. Even Ms. Dawes chimed in with, "Eli, your face was hilarious."

His laughter began to calm down, "I wasn't expecting that," he said softly, looking down, then up to me. I giggled and looked down at my script, still avoiding eye contact.

We continued with the scene, as Prez told Mae to calm down and not to get her hopes up.

Imogen and Maya had a few lines gossiping some more. I cut in with my line.

"Babe can take care of herself," Imogen shot back, following my line.

I looked right at my script during my response, fully knowing who I should've been directing the line to. "The problem is... Once you start falling for a guy... How are you supposed to know how far you're going to fall?"

"And Clare," Ms. Dawes stopped us, "That line should be directed to..." she trailed off pointing her pen at Eli.

I nodded in response, preparing to do the line again. I tried to keep my expression blank as I looked down, rereading my lines.

I heard a laugh from my left. "That's so awkward," Marisol blurted out.

And with that single statement, everyone froze. I had never experienced silence quite like that. Honestly, I wanted to punch Marisol in the face. She seemed to be the only one who didn't get the memo to ignore the obvious awkwardness in the show's casting.

I bit down on my lip, unsure of what to do. I kept my eyes on the script, while the silence screamed out.

"Marisol..." Ms. Dawes began, clearly about to go into lecture mode. It dawned on me that her attempt to improve the situation would, in actuallity, make things worse.

I cringed, mentally preparing for the worst.

And then, Eli cut in with, "Why? Because "Saint Clare," has to act like a floozy?"

And with that, everyone erupted into laughter. More in relief than at the humor of what he said.

As I giggled along, my anxiety calming down, I locked eyes with Eli. With a tilt of my head, I gave a small, appreciative smile. He responded with a small smirk, and tiny nod.

Even though there may be days when I really want to punch him in the face... I had to admit: _Sometimes I am incredibly thankful for Eli Goldsworthy."_

**Sorry that these first few chapters are a little slow. But I promise things are going to pick up,****_ realsoon._**


	5. Think of the Time I Save, part one

**Goodness, this chapter is ****_short._**** Sorry about that. But… it's a bit of a filler. Hopefully this will clear up any confusion on Clare and her emotions.**

**Good news: I have the next two chapters all written out. They just need editing. So… they should come soon :)**

**Oh! And sorry I'm a terrible person for not letting you know earlier… but neither Cake nor Imogeli have happened. Probably should have said that like… first chapter, but oh well.**

**Anyway… enjoy :) I don't own Degrassi. Obviously. I don't own the Pajama Game. Obviously.**

"Thank goodness you're here," Bianca muttered to me as soon as I walked into the gym. "I thought I'd have to suffer through gym alone."

"Yeah... I'm here." I mumbled back to her. "_Really_ don't want to be, though." As I complained, I ran a hand through my hair, attempting to flatten down the frizz.

She snorted at me, "Has rehearsal really been that bad?"

I paused, getting my thoughts together. "I mean... it hasn't been_ that_ bad. There's just been a lot of awkwardness that I've had to deal with. It's kind of draining."

Before she could respond, we were interrupted by a whistle. Everyone was being sent to go dress out for class. Since Bianca and I had different teachers, we were in separate locker rooms. I'd have to finish filling her in after getting dressed.

* * *

It was unexpected: becoming friends with her. We had always been nice enough to each other in the hall. But I'd always assumed that our personalities were too different for us to be friends.

We only talked to each other during gym class. Even though we had the same French class, we both had closer friends to hang out with. Neither of us had a single friend in gym, and we were acquaintances with each other through Adam. I suppose it made sense that we gravitated towards each other.

Our friendship really only existed because we've both been able to be what the other needed during these past few months.

It was during the week following mine and Eli's break up that some kid named Reese decided to hit on me. I was simply not having it that day. With zero patience for his idiocy, I felt too worn out to convince him to leave me alone. Bianca stepped in for me, telling the kid to scram.

We both had a good laugh afterwards. He had looked like he was about to wet his pants.

Either way, she had heard about the breakup and let me talk things through with her. She then went on to say she knew where I was coming from; she had recently broken up with Drew.

She told me as much as she was able to. There were a few major details she said that she simply wasn't able to talk about.

But, it was nice, talking to someone who completely understood what I was going through. And having someone who didn't get sick of my rambling, no matter how obsessive I got.

Whenever anything between Eli and I happened, she'd be the first to know. I was really looking forward to organizing some of my thoughts during our talk today.

Walking out of the locker room, into the gym, I saw that Bianca had already finished changing. She was sitting on the bleachers, saving me a seat.

I sat down next to her, leaning back on the row behind us.

"So," she began, picking at her nail, "You said that things have been awkward?"

I nodded. "I already gave you the details on the Her Is choral. It's just... Some days I really miss him. And all I want is for things to go back to normal. Those are the days when I really fight myself to cooperate and make life easier. But, the majority of the time I really just want to punch him in the face. Those are the days when awkward situations happen."

"Have you tried, like, figuring out why you get so frustrated with him? And then dealt with it from there? I'm sure that'd be better than temporarily shoving your emotions into a corner," she said, propping her feet up on the seats in front of us.

I stopped, and thought about that. "Well... I'm not necessarily angry with him for something specific. I'm really just upset that he's _making_ me so upset, without even doing anything. You know?"

She nodded.

I continued, "Sometimes I feel kind of bad for making his life difficult. Then I try to make up for it… but then I end up making myself more miserable. I'll start convincing myself that things between us are real. I begin hoping that we can really become friends again. And then snapping back to reality is just awful. Once I hit that point, I'm exhausted, and just go back to hating him. It's easier for me to do that."

She nodded, and we sat for a couple seconds, thinking.

I jumped at the shriek of a whistle. "Ladies!" Coach Armstrong called over. "I know participation in today's basketball game is optional, but you still have to do something. Walk, skip, crawl, I don't care. Just don't make me give you two zeros."

Bianca rolled her eyes, and got up. I pushed myself up after. We were lucky; Coach Armstrong liked us. He'd always warn us before taking off participation points. And he'd often give us full credit for sitting out.

As we began walking the perimeter of the gym, Bianca started the conversation back up. Her tone turned less bitter, and more dejected. I immediately paid closer attention to her; it was rare for her to fall into a vulnerable state like this.

"I mean, you're making sense," she began. "There are some days when I really, really just want to punch Drew in the face... even though he didn't do a single thing. Then, at the same time, there are days when I really have to stop myself from going up to him and fixing everything that _I _screwed up," she said, her eyes looking off into the distance.

A wave of sympathy washed over me. She didn't often talk about her current situation. She was never really able to find hope for her and Drew, so she normally settled on attempting to brighten her mood by discussing the old times. It was when she began talking about how hard things were, that I knew that she was too miserable to even attempt to feel better.

I opened my mouth to respond, but she shook her head, refocusing. "I'm talking too much. We spent nearly all of last class discussing my issues. It's your turn."

Even though it was clear that Bianca was in a worse emotional state, I knew that she wouldn't talk until she was sure I was done.

As we turned the corner, I had to duck as a rogue basketball flew our way. She cleared her throat. "What rehearsal do you have today?" she asked, falling back into her usual tone.

"We're learning the choreography for Think of the Time I Save," I responded. "It's only the factory girls. Plus Adam."

She nodded. "So you won't have to deal with Eli today?"

"I'm pretty sure he has blocking , but he'll be in a different rehearsal area." I told her. "Don't get me wrong, I'm excited for a break from the anxiety. and all. It's just… I was feeling pretty cooperative today. It sucks to waste my mood."

She chuckled and nodded.

"Oh!" I shouted, startling her a bit. Giggling I asked, "Did I tell you about blocking rehearsals for Racing with the Clock, the other day?"

When she shook her head, words began flying out of my mouth. "Well, Racing is like, the first song after the opening, so it's right at the beginning. And Ms. Dawes wanted Eli to start over at my work table, pantomiming conversation with me. But quite literally, every time he opened his mouth, I responded with something ridiculously sassy. Like not even funny sassy. Like 'I hate you, get away from me,' sassy. Anytime he took out his phone to text someone, I was like, 'I _literally_, can't even handle how cool you are. I wish that _I_ was cool enough to text during rehearsal. But, you know, I'm _capable_ of being away from my phone for more than four seconds. But I guess some people can't even handle that.'"

Bianca was cracking up once I finished. "Geeze Clare, please tell me you were exaggerating. There's no way you _actually_ said stuff like that to him."

I turned to her, a guilty expression on my face.

She laughed even harder, "Clare... you can't do that to people."

"Okay! In my defense, he was flirting like mad with Imogen. Right in front of me."

She rolled her eyes, quieting her chuckles. "Well if he's going to be dumb like that, I can see your response being _a tiny bit _more reasonable."

"I mean," I responded, my laughter dying down, "It's hard, because he's really good at fooling other people. I tend to be the only one who can tell when he's messing with me. And I _know_ that sometimes I'm just being a crazy teenage girl... But I know the way that boy works. I know that he's manipulated me into behaving during rehearsals, purposefully flirted with Imogen to show that he has more power, and acts completely hot and cold to make my life harder. Really, we're just constantly in competition to, like, win, and come out on top. The only difference between the two of us is that he knows how to make it seem like he's not even doing anything."

"Sounds tiring," Bianca responded.

I nodded. "But I care too much, and I'm too attached to stop. If I don't fight back... it's truly over between the two of us."

"I know that these awkward situations are tricky for you, but keep in mind that you always have the opportunity to change things between you two. Like, I'd much rather talk to Drew on awkward terms, rather than not at all," she said, her shoulders beginning to sink a bit.

"It sucks," she continued, her tone changing again, "Things cutting of the way they did. I just feel ridiculously alone in this. And the one person who I want to talk to about how sucky this is, is the one person who I can't."

I looked at her sympathetically. "I wish you were able to talk to someone about the details, even if it's not me. It must be tough dealing with this on your own."

She rubbed her eye, and gave a short, humorless laugh. "It's not fun. But, I can deal. Distractions help. Like when you and I talk about the old times, or when I talk to Adam. He really helps."

I made a mental note to bring Bianca up in conversation the next time I saw Adam. It'd be nice if they could become closer.

"I just wish things could go back," she continued. "I know that he's beginning to move on, and I hate dealing with that. It's the fact that I know that things didn't end for a valid reason, that just makes it harder to let go."

The whistle blew, once again. This time it was to dismiss us back to the locker rooms. I said bye to Bianca, making a mental note that she'd get more time to talk next class, since she was cut short.

Sometimes I find myself more interested in her love life than my own.

After I got dressed, I headed over to the bathroom stalls. Looking at myself in the mirror, I tried to fix my hair; it was still frizzing. As I left the locker room, I sighed, and ran a hand through it. _It doesn't matter. It's not like I'm seeing Eli today._

**Reviews would be grand :)**


	6. Think of the Time I Save, part two

**Woohoo! Chapter six! This one is significantly longer than the previous one.**

**Um, for the person who asked, yes Jake will be in this story. I don't want to give away any information on his storyline, though.**

**For those of you who don't know stage directions: downstage is closer to the audience, upstage is further. Right and left stage are the right and left when facing the audience.**

**I do believe that's all you need to know for this chapter.**

**So... Enjoy :) I don't own Degrassi. Obviously. I don't own the Pajama Game. Obviously. **

"Guys... I'm not sure if you're aware of this... but you're wearing each other's pants," Alli said, watching Jenna and I walk out of the bathroom.

Laughing, Jenna replied, "I stole Clare's sweats from underneath the stall while we were changing. So she took mine."

Playfully rolling her eyes, Alli responded, "And instead of being mature and giving each other your sweats back-"

"We just wore each others," I giggled.

I linked arms with Alli and Jenna, and we began walking down the side hallway. We had to stop by the theatre room to figure out where rehearsal would be held. Think of the Time I Save had a smaller group of people, so any of the usual rehearsal spots would be a sufficient amount of space.

"Hi Ms. Dawes," the three of us said in unision, as we entered the classroom.

"Hi ladies," she responded, looking up from her desk with a smile. "We're actually missing Drew today, so the blocking will consist of scenes five and seven instead of scene eight."

_Oh no_. I began wracking my brain, trying to figure out if scene seven was, in fact, the Her Is reprise. _Maybe it's scene six. I was looking over scene six, last night, not scene seven, right?_

"Clare, you can just stay in here for your blocking," _Shoot_. "Alli, Jenna, dance rehearsals are on stage." The two of them looked at me, a bit wide-eyed, I looked back, silently begging them for help.

"Um, Ms. Dawes?" I said, desperate to try and get out of this. "The list on Facebook said that I'm supposed to be in Think of the Time I Save. Should I go to the dance rehearsal anyway, so that I can learn it?"

She thought for a second, "Well, I definitely need you in _here_ today, but I'll go ahead and ask Ms. Oh if she still wants you in the dance."

My shoulders slumped a bit, and I nodded. With sympathetic smiles, Alli and Jenna left me to go to the auditorium.

I made my way to the red couch, dragging my feet. I forced myself to stop moping, and began to shift my mindset to prepare for what was about to happen.

Glancing around the room, I saw Ms. Dawes was talking to Ms. Oh. They both seemed a bit frustrated. I listened in.

"I already told you, anyone who won't be there to learn the choreography won't be in the dance," Ms. Oh said to Dawes, her tone sharp.

Looking exasperated, Dawes turned to me, to relay the message. She stopped when she saw that I was already looking over. "Clare, you heard that?" I nodded._ There goes my last hope_.

I picked at my nails, watching as more people came into the room. Cam, Maya, Jake, and KC had already squeezed onto the couch next to mine.

I attempted to keep my mind fairly blank. Getting nervous wouldn't be helpful at all.

"Ms. Dawes? I wasn't listed on Facebook for the Think of the Time I Save dance. Does that mean I should just go home?" The familiarity of the question caused my ears to perk up. Glancing over, I saw that it was Tori. We ran in different circles, but had actually become pretty decent friends over the past month. We were also at the same work table in the pajama factory scenes, so we'd had some pretty funny conversations.

"Um," Dawes responded, "You know, I think that there's actually a factory girl named Mara in scene five. You can stay in here for blocking and do that part. I'd send you out to join the dance... but you know how precise Ms. Oh can be with her choreography," Dawes said, clearly still irritated by her conversation with Oh.

Tori nodded, and hesitantly walked further into the room. Fiona, Tris, and Marisol had joined everyone on the couch next to me, so it was nearly overflowing. She looked relieved when her eyes landed on me, alone on the red couch. Dropping her bag, she sat down next to me.

I smiled at her, and we made small talk for a while, waiting for rehearsal to start. When Eli walked in, I tried not to let it affect me. I needed to keep it together for today.

We were starting with scene five; the Her Is between Prez and Gladys. Eli began the scene, walking around upstage. Jake and KC come in next, and talk about the picnic a bit. Imogen and I walk in shortly after, followed by Tori and Fiona.

"We better make an announcement about the mix up! It seems there ain't gonna be enough potato salad to go around!" I said to Tori, on cue.

"Oh Mae," she responded.

Looking up from her script, Ms. Dawes instructed, "Eli, while Tori says her line, start walking up behind Mae, like you're preparing to hit on her. Then Clare, right on your next line, abruptly link arms with Tori and take her offstage with you. This way Prez doesn't get the chance to talk to you. Imogen, KC, and Jake, follow behind. Then Eli, you'll be alone with Fiona, and you can start setting up for the song.

We all nodded, taking in everything she said.

"Just take it back from the beginning," she said, scrawling notes into her script.

We began again, and successfully remembered all of our blocking.

Eli began hitting on Fiona's character, Gladys. Before she could begin rejecting him, Dawes stopped us again. "Alright, good job guys. Everyone except Fiona and Eli can take a seat for now."

"Wait," Jake asked, a hopeful expression on his face, "Since I'm not in scene seven, can I leave?"

Fully aware that she was about to ruin his afternoon, Dawes grinned as she responded, "Nope, you have Steam Heat today." Jake let out a groan, and sunk down onto the couch next to mine.

Steam Heat was the dance number at the beginning of act two. It consisted of Prez, Gladys, and a male factory worker. In other words, Eli, Fiona, and Jake. The dance was ridiculously difficult. I'd overheard horror stories from _all_ three of them. Not only was the choreography extremely advanced, but apparently, Ms. Oh was incredibly harsh at those rehearsals.

Sitting next to Tori on the red couch, I watched them block the song. It was pretty entertaining. Ms. Dawes had Eli doing kick lines on his knees, rolling onto his back, doing a weird butt wiggle with his hand on his head. It was pretty hysterical.

Maya, Tristan, Marisol, Cam, KC, and Jake were on the other couch. It hit me that Tori hadn't been sitting with her friends. Curious, I leaned over and asked her why.

"They're getting the silent treatment for trashing Zig," she responded, flicking her hair over her shoulder.

I nodded, but didn't ask for more information. We went back to watching the scene, adding some commentary, and quietly poking fun at Eli.

When they finished up, Fiona took a seat on the end of the couch that Tori and I were sitting on.

Ms. Dawes then began setting up the second Her Is. My Her Is. Since it took place directly after the picnic, all the characters ranged from slightly intoxicated, to completely wasted.

The scene began with Marisol, Cam, and KC crossing the stage, in conversation. While that went on, Maya and Jake would be canoodling far upstage. After the first three exit, Tris enters. He sings a drunken version of Once a Year Day while walking towards Maya and Jake.

Ms. Dawes instructed Maya to shove Jake away and plant a huge kiss on Tris. It was absolutely hilarious to watch.

I was instructed to walk on with Tori, right as Maya grabs Tris for the kiss. When the time came, I linked arms with Tori, and we walked onstage, pantomiming conversation.

I looked back at the kiss and said, "The thing I like about picnics, they bring people together."

Eli's line was next. He hadn't been given instruction on how to enter the scene, so we all waited for Ms. Dawes.

After thinking for a couple moments, she looked up and said that it was good. "Now Eli, right as she says that line, you begin walking downstage to her. Tori, you'll kind of take the hint and leave with Maya and Tris. Jake should've left during the kiss. That will leave Clare and Eli alone for the song." We all nodded at that. "And Clare," she continued, "Let there be a little bit of jealousy in your tone. Remember... the main thing that your character wants is exactly what Maya and Tris appear to have."

"Mmkay," I responded, nodding.

"I won't make you guys do the whole thing again. So, if you're not Clare, or in Steam Heat, you're excused."

And with that, I was left with Fiona, whose face was less than an inch from her phone, and Jake, who was sprawled out on the couch, half asleep. I couldn't tell if having less people in the room made me feel more comfortable, or more awkward.

Once everyone had gone into the hall, Ms. Dawes had us take the scene from my first line.

"What I like about picnics…they bring people together," I began, attempting to take Ms. Dawes' note about jealousy.

"They sure do," a low voice drew out from behind me. _Oh goodness_. His tone caught me off guard. _Why is his voice so attractive?_

He slowly sauntered over to me and angled his body towards me. My heart was thudding harshly in my chest. _Oh goodness. Why is his scent so attractive?_

I smiled up at him, and tilted my head to the side. "I never thought you was aware I was alive until today."

"How could I miss you?" he rolled out, smirking. "You're the type that stands out in a crowd. You've got what it takes. And say, that's a mighty elegant outfit you've got on."

"Oh," I responded, looking down. "It's just casual,"

We stopped there. There were written stage directions, but Dawes usually changed those. We just waited for instruction.

She thought for a minute, looking at us, and tapping her pencil. A grin then spread across her face. _Oh no_. I knew that look.

"Sorry Clare," she began, as she stood up and walked over to us. "Alright, now after that line… you're going to lean up, and kiss Eli. Then stop abruptly, and slap him across the face. Like you're realizing what just happened, and blaming it on him."

My heart felt like it was going to explode out of my chest. I began to sweat a bit. And even worse, I could feel my whole face turn bright red._ So much for not getting nervous._

"So... um, just, right after his line?" I asked, trying to buy myself more time to calm down.

"Mmhmm," Dawes responded, not even looking up from writing down the blocking.

I nodded. "Okay." I looked down at my script, trying to stall some more.

An unfamiliar snort pulled me out of my thoughts.

"That's a nice blush you're wearing," Jake said, chuckling.

Unlike when Marisol did it, Jake pointing out the obvious resulted in less awkwardness, rather than more. Eli, Dawes and I broke out in laughter. Even Fiona looked up from her phone for a bit.

When things began to die down, Ms. Dawes spoke, a lot more relaxed since Jake had diffused the tension. "You know, I think if you lean in to kiss him, stop when you get _really_ close, and then slap him, that'll be fine too."

I felt the strangest mixture of relief and guilt. Even though I was overjoyed to not have to kiss Eli, I knew that she changed it because she felt bad for me. The last thing I wanted to do was ruin my character due to personal issues. I really did need to calm down and grow up.

"Just take it back from Clare's line," Dawes instructed, leaning back in her seat.

We nodded and turned back to face each other. I realized that I still couldn't look at Eli's eyes for too long.

"Oh, it's just casual," I said again.

Then I looked up at him, pushed away my nerves, and looped my arms around his neck. I rolled up onto my toes, and leaned in, _really_ trying not to get uncomfortable. When we were a couple inches apart, I stepped back abruptly and slapped him across the face.

His eyes widened in shock. I realized that my nerves had caused me to slap him way harder than I meant to. I felt my eyes widen as well.

"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry!" I said, one hand covering my mouth in shock, the other flying up to touch his cheek. "I did not mean to hit you that hard!" My left hand reached up to turn his head to the side, and I investigated the spot where I hit him with my right hand. It was beginning to turn red. I tried not to laugh at my own stupidity. Really, it _was_ pretty funny. When Eli began to chuckle a bit, I let a small smile spread across my face.

Our eyes locked momentarily, and I realized that I still had his face in my hands. My smile fell from my face, and I immediately pulled my hands back. I looked at the ground and muttered a quick apology.

He smirked, "No, you're fine." I glanced up at him, and, briefly, our eyes met again.

We both looked over to Dawes for further instruction. "Clare, take it from your line after the slap," she said with a patient smile.

"Listen…Prez…what would your wife say?" I said, looking over towards him.

He shook his head, "Don't worry about that. Her and me hardly ever talk anymore."

With excitement in my voice, I quickly responded, "You don't?"

"Certainly not."

I tried not to let the smirk on his face affect me. "You know what? Something I like-"

"Sorry Clare," Dawes cut in. "But… on your upcoming 'swell brain' line, mess with his hair. And on the 'snappy dresser' line, come behind him and rest your head on his shoulder. That's what he did to Gladys in the first on, so it'll mirror the situation."

"Okay," I said. I grabbed a pen from my bag, and scrawled down the blocking into my script, before doing what she asked.

"You know what? Something I like about you… you've got such a swell brain," I reached up and messed with his hair, giving him a small, teasing smile. I knew that he hated his hair being messed with, and silently laughed at him when he cringed.

"So have you," he responded, voice low.

I stepped behind him, and went up on my toes to rest my head on his shoulder. I looked over into my script in my left hand before saying, "You're a snappy dresser too… I go for that."

While I rested on his shoulder, I really just wanted to get off of him. The closeness really wasn't helping my nerves.

"I go for you," he drew out, lifting an eyebrow.

The song was next. I was relieved to lift myself off of his shoulder, while we waited for further instruction.

Dawes began, "Clare, on your ha's, you can walk away from him and pose with your hands on your hips. Eli, on 'drives a fella bats,' put one hand on your head, the other straight out, and sway back and forth. Clare, you do it back on your lyrics."

"Alright," said Eli. He looked over to me, signaling for me to begin.

I nodded back, and then giggled obnoxiously, as I stepped away from him.

He looked over to me, and did a deep, slow laugh.

"Her is... The kinda doll what drives a bella bats. …isn't her?" he sang, doing the step instructed by Ms. Dawes.

Placing one hand on my head, and the other straight out, I sang "Her Is."

We looked to Ms. Dawes. She stood up and walked to Eli. After momentarily collecting her thoughts, she copied his previous position, then put one arm straight up, the other straight down, as if to put me on display. She then got on one knee, held out her hands, and shaped a girl's figure in the air. She looked to Eli, waiting for him to nod.

Dawes moved out of the way and Eli began, "So... Her has," opening of his arms, "The kinda shape that really is the cats," kneeling down and shaping my figure. "Hasn't her?"

Ms. Dawes walked over to where I was standing, and then took small, dainty steps over to Eli. She sat down lightly on his knee. "Her has?" she sang looking at me for approval, and then got off of him.

I nodded back to her, pushing away my anxiety from sitting on him._ You knew that you'd be close to him for this. You've had mentally prepared. Put on your big girl pants and stop freaking out._

With Eli still on one knee, I took girly little steps over to him, and took a seat on his knee. With my elbow on his shoulder, and his arm resting around my waist, I sang, "Her has."

Dawes walked back over to her script, looking at the lyrics. I got off Eli's knee, and picked at my nails. From the corner of my eye, I saw Jake trying to get my attention. I looked over to him, and he waved me over.

"What's the chemistry homework?" he asked, once I kneeled on the floor in front of him.

_Seriously?_ "Can this wait? I'm kind of in the middle of something."

"She's working with Eli right now; you have a couple minutes," he responded, rolling his eyes. Glancing over to Dawes, I saw that she was, in fact, trying to teach Eli some sort of roll to do.

I turned back to face him, a little annoyed. "We just have a couple worksheets."

"Help me with them?" he asked, his expression resembling that of a puppy.

I groaned, and opened his bag without waiting for permission. Pulling out three crumpled worksheets, I began going over them with him. I didn't understand why he was asking me for help. He never had before.

As I kneeled on the ground, I constantly looked over my shoulder to see if Eli was still being worked with. When Dawes finally finished teaching Eli his more complicated steps, I left Jake and swiftly walked back to the middle of the room.

"Alright Clare," Dawes began. "After 'her has,' you skip over to your previous spot. When Eli sings 'but you have twice as much as the rest have,' cross in front of him." She did a skipping step of sorts, then looked over to me.

"Okay, yeah, I can do that," I replied.

"Um…" she continued. "Then lean over, and blow him a kiss as he goes into his next few lyrics."

"Then just go back to my pose?" I asked.

"I think so… yes. Then on the next 'her is,' do a little hip bounce," she did so as she explained.

We took it back from after I get off of his lap. After posing, I skipped to the other side of him, blew him a kiss, and then bounced my hips as instructed.

Putting all of my energy on remembering what I had been told to do, didn't allow me to worry so much about Eli. I couldn't even keep track of what he was doing, since I was so focused on getting my steps correct.

"We're almost done, guys," Dawes said after we made it through what we'd been taught. "So… Eli is kneeling, and Clare is over stage right," she muttered. "Hmm… how about- alright guys work with me here. I want to try something."

I resisted the urge to look over at Eli. I knew that we were both thinking the exact same thing: Dawes, plus ideas, equals danger, humiliation, and/or awkwardness. I felt his eyes naturally flick over to me. It would've been so easy to look back at him and see my exact expression on his face. But I just stared at the ground instead.

"Alright Clare, come behind Eli… and I want you to swing each leg over each shoulder," I looked at her doubtfully._ I am going to fall on my face and die._

Slowly, I walked over to him, swinging over each leg, so that my calves rested on his chest, with my thighs balancing on his shoulder. I felt extremely unstable.

"Now Eli,"_ Oh gosh, there's more?_ "See if you can stand up."

After a moment's hesitation, he slowly began rising up_. I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I'm going to die_.

"Hey Eli," I said, as I shakily rose up.

"Hmm?" he huffed out in response.

"I'm going to die," I stated. Sure enough, a couple inches higher, the grip I had on the back of his shirt wasn't enough, and we both came toppling down.

A small shriek escaped my mouth, as I fell backwards from his shoulders. But somehow, I managed to not hit the ground. It took me a second to realize that the things preventing me from touching the floor were arms. And a few more seconds for it to register that those arms belonged to Eli.

Our closeness hadn't been bothering me when I was on his shoulders, fearing for my life. However, being in his arms, at that moment, snapped me back to my previous anxiety.

I pushed myself out of his arms, and sat next to him on the floor. To keep things from becoming awkward, I looked over to him and laughed. "Thanks for helping me escape death."

That earned me a chuckle and a smirk in response. "No problem."

"Sorry guys," Dawes apologizes, "I should have realized that it wouldn't work. Eli's center of gravity was off, so…"

She paused, and reconsidered. "Clare, just skip back around to him, and hug him from behind. Then give him a small peck on the cheek before hopping back over to stage right. Give a little turn, and Eli will pull you offstage."

Eli's choreography was much more simplistic for this last part of the dance. He just rolled up onto his feet, sang out his last bit, then takes my hand and we go off together.

After we finished up that last part, and Eli pulled me off, Dawes said, "Alright guys, very good. How about we do it one more time?"

I felt drained. Even though I'd made it through rehearsal without sending my usual 'I hate you' vibes, it had still taken a lot of effort to do so. I tried to keep my expression blank as Eli and I walked back to the middle of the room to begin again.

Dawes paused for a moment, looking at me. I suppose my poker face wasn't very good, because she then said, "...actually I think Ms. Oh is almost done with Think of the Time I Save, and will be here soon for Steam Heat. So how about you two promise to remember it, and Clare can go home."

"Alrightie," I responded, biting my lip. Eli nodded.

I gathered up my book bag and said bye to Jake and Fiona. "Thank you Ms. Dawes," I said as I walked towards the door.

Glancing back towards Eli, I wondered if he'd say goodbye or even hug me, but he was on the couch next to Fiona, staring intently at his phone.

As I looked back, Fiona glanced up at me, and we locked eyes. She turned to Eli and pushed his shoulder a bit, "Geez Eli, can you take four seconds to say bye to Clare? I think Imogen will survive a couple seconds of you not texting her."

My face immediately turned bright red. Before Eli could even begin to lift his head up towards me, I shot Fiona a small smile, turned around, and nearly ran out the door.

I grabbed my phone and called for my ride home. "Darcy? I'm all done," I said as I sat by myself in the hall.

"I'm on my way," she replied.

"Mmkay," I said back.

"...Clare, are you okay? Your voice is a little shaky."

I shook my head, even though she couldn't see me.

"I don't wanna talk about it. It's just the dumb boy is being dumb again."

She sighed, "I'll be there soon, and you can tell me about it on our way home."


End file.
